LaGRANGE, Ga. — Police officers in Georgia said they had to shoot a peacock that was the cause of numerous calls for injuries and property damage.
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The LaGrange Police Department told our sister station, WSB, that they had responded to calls for service about the animal for more than a year and a half. The latest call at Southern Orthopedic and Southern Surgery was around 1 p.m. on April 28.
The officers who responded said they tried using a beanbag gun and other nonlethal or less-than-lethal methods to secure the peacock. When those were unsuccessful, they used a shotgun to kill it.
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“Even after the first two direct hits from the less lethal beanbag, the peafowl was able to fly significant distances,” the department spokesperson said. “Additional bean bag rounds were fired, followed by lethal shotgun rounds, ultimately dispatching the animal.”
Another factor in using lethal force was a nearby elementary school and concern for children being let out soon, WSB reported.
“It was our fear that vacating the area with the animal already agitated would have dangerous consequences for children arriving home from school and patients who are already less ambulatory, based on the very nature of services that Southern Orthopedic and Southern Surgery provide,” they said.
Police said an Animal Control officer was attacked after first responding to the clinic that day.
Officers then tried “for quite some time to get close enough to the fowl to lasso it with a catch pole,” but could not catch it.
“The animal would fly far enough away from us so that the entire process would have to start over again,” a spokesperson said. “We made several attempts at this with no success.”
According to WSB, they also tried to incapacitate the bird with a Taser, hoping to stop it long enough to then lasso it and bring it to a nearby animal services truck.
“Officers were unable to get into a position in which they would be able to safely, comfortably, and accurately deploy Taser on the small target, given the angle of probe spread associated with this less lethal device,” they said.
Following multiple attempts to subdue the bird, and having to block property with officers and patrol vehicles, police said “the wild animal had, at this point, repeatedly shown its capacity for violence,” and they had to use more force."
Officers then switched to live ammunition, killing the animal with lethal shotgun rounds.
Afterward, the peacock’s remains were taken off the property.
In a statement shared with WSB, police said that because peacocks and peafowl are not native to Georgia, nor an endangered species, the Department of Natural Resources does not respond to calls about them.
“It should be noted that no local resources, such as animal safaris and local zoos, are willing to take this peafowl into their facilities,” they added.
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